Fans of The Partridge Family know Jackie Ward as
the lone female voice, behind the scenes with the quartet of Studio Singers.
What many fans may not know, is just how extensive her on-screen career
is as well.† Reading Jackie Wardís resume, whether for TV, Movies
or Records, is like reading the Hollywood phone book. Danny Kaye. Carol
Burnett. Red Skelton. Rodgers & Hammerstein. Pat Boone. Frank Sinatra.
Barbra Streisand. The Carpenters. Sonny & Cher. Mama Cass. Shaun Cassidy.
Ray Conniff. Percy Faith. Anita Kerr. Joan Baez. The list goes on and on
and on. In addition to singing, she was often contracted to find the best
voices around for projects she was hired to assemble. Jackie was gracious
enough to sit down and reminisce about her career with Scott Awley and
cmongethappy.com from August through October, 2000. So sit back as we take
you on another spin around San Pueblo...

Get Happy:How
did you become interested in music?

Jackie Ward:†
Well, letís see. I came from a musical family. The first public performance
I did was with my sisters in church. I was eight years old, and they were
older. I had to stand on the piano bench in order to get up to their level.
I sang the alto parts.

GH: Where were you
raised?

JW: I was actually
born in Hawaii and my father was in the Navy. I went from there to Nebraska,
which is where my parentsí families are from. I grew up primarily in a
small town in Nebraska.†

GH: How did your trek
west start?

JW: My sisters and
I sang in a trio, called The McDonnell Sisters. We entered a nationwide
radio talent contest that a man named Horace Heidt ran. We auditioned,
and then had to travel to Yangton, South Dakota with the other contestants.
Thatís where the show was broadcast from. We won the contest! My parents
thought, "Gosh, if they could do that, then we really should give them
a chance to see what they can do in Hollywood." So, they up and moved us.
I finished my last year of high school in California, because thatís when
we moved.

GH: Did you start
auditioning right away?

JW: Oh, sure! While
I was a senior, we auditioned for KTLA, and they hired us for a television
show called
Bandstand Revue. We did that for about 4 years.

GH: What kind of music
did you sing for the show?

JW:Bandstand Revue
was like
Your Hit Parade, which were songs of the day. So we sang
all the songs that were popular then. This was around 1954.

GH: Hollywood is such
a "closed door" type of town. Did working on KTLA help you get started?

JW: Well, actually
≠ not at all! After a while, my sisters decided that they didnít want
to be in the business for various reasons, such as marriage, etc. Although
I was married at the time too, I decided that I liked it enough to stick
it out. So, I started doing demos for songwriters.

GH: Did you want to
be an actress or a singer?

JW: Itís a funny story
≠ I think youíll appreciate this: When I was singing with my sisters,
some star came on that was doing a number, and all of a sudden this background
group showed up. And they were just like the musicians that played in the
orchestra. The star was passing out music, and I am realizing that these
singers have never met the star, nor have they seen this music before.
That just blew me away. Here were singers that could do something that
I couldnít do. I knew I could sing anything. Any style, or whatever because
I had the voice. But I didnít know how to read music. It bugged me -- that
I couldnít do what they could do, so I went to City College and learned
music.

GH: Since you had
been singing with your sisters, was it easier for you to pick out the harmonies?

JW: Oh, sure. My ears
were so good. But it was just a matter of understanding what I was singing,
and putting a name to it. Learning what the key signatures were, and how
it all worked. It was all fairly simple. I was also married to a music
copyist at the time, so I would practice by taking a score he was working
on and take the different sections, such as the trumpet section, or the
violin section, and practice sight reading what they had written, along
with the rhythm. By doing that, I had a good head start. But while I was
learning, I was also recording demos for songwriters, because thatís just
the melody, which is a piece of cake.

GH: Songwriters needed
demos recorded?

JW: Thatís the way
they used to do it. Singers that worked for recording studios would be
pitched all these songs by the writers. It was a different world then.
That was the main way it was done. Songwriters sent the demos to the producers
that were working with the artists. Producers would listen to all these
demos and bring the ones to the artists that they felt worked best. Then
the artists would pick and choose.

GH: How did that start
for you? Did you have an agent, or answer audition ads in the paper?

JW: No, I never did
any of that. I met a lot of people in the business while I was still doing
the show. Itís just word of mouth ≠ somebody recommended me for something.
Thatís basically how it happened. Even today, in the world of studio singers,
itís still that way. An agent canít really get you a job. Itís not even
so much who you know, as it is how capable you are, and that word gets
around. Your reputation gets around.

GH: How did you get
your start in front of the cameras?

JW: Alan Copeland
was auditioning a whole bunch of singers for The Red Skelton Show.†
I went in and auditioned. They were looking for three girls and four guys.
Alan liked what I did and put me in the group. We were the set singers,
and I did that every week. During this time, The Carol Burnett Show
was going on, and I did that on several occasions, and I did The Danny
Kaye Show as well. This was in the early to mid 60s.

GH: Did these types
of TV gigs pay well?

JW: No, not at all.†
Donít get me wrong ≠ I was thrilled to have the job and it was nice,
but the better paying jobs ≠ for the time you put in -- were the record
dates and commercials. So, I started picking up more and more of those.
After a while, I found it was hard to continue doing the television show
because it was interfering with the record dates, which paid more.

GH: How long would
a record date take?

JW: It was usually
a three-hour call. You would get paid either per hour, or per record side,
with a minimal call. You could book three record dates easily in a day.
So, you could make good money. Much better than a television show, because
they have you all day for the one flat rate.†

GH: Tom Bahler mentioned
that he used to hate getting a movie call, because it was an all-day affair.
Did you have the same experience?

JW: Absolutely! If
you got a movie call, that was an 8-hour call. Your day was gone. If you
were lucky and they didnít go into overtime, you might be able to do a
record job in the evening, but you couldnít always count on it. Youíre
in big trouble if you went into overtime and you had also booked another
gig!

GH: You were also
in Rodgers and Hammersteinsí Cinderella, with Lesley Ann Warren.
How did that come about?

JW: That was while
I was doing the Skelton show. Everything just coincided because it was
all right there in the same studio at CBS. I was the town prostitute in
that.

GH: You were the prostitute?
I thought you were a prospective princess for the prince?

JW: No, I think I
was the town prostitute.

GH: Wow ≠ thatís
quite a fall! From princess to prostitute!

JW: (Laughs) I know
youíve talked to Tom and Ron, so you know that we worked with just about
every star in Hollywood back then. Some were interesting, some not.

GH: Did you record
with the stars or separately?

JW: Well, back then
everybody recorded live. You recorded with the orchestra and the soloist
was in a booth. We may have been in a booth as well but we could all see
each other, and the conductor. It wasnít a separate room, just a small
booth with a glass window so you could isolate the sound a bit.

GH: Who were you recording
with at this time?

JW: I did a lot of
stuff with Pat Boone, Jimmie Rodgers, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and
I did one of the very last recordings that Bing Crosby did. That was a
thrill, because I knew he wasnít going to be doing too many more.†

GH: Did you record
any television themes?

JW: Oh, sure! I did
so many sometimes itís hard to remember them all. I did the main titles
to Flipper, Batman, and later on I did Love American Style
and Maude. With Love American Style we were all there ≠
Tom, John, Ron and myself. Maude was just three girls and Donny
Hathaway. I think Ron was with me on Batman and Flipper.

GH: You went from
a prostitute in
Cinderella to a little brown bear in Hanna-Barberaís
animated motion picture, Hey There! Itís Yogi Bear! How did that
come about?

JW: Hoyt Curtin was
the composer for all of Hanna-Barberaís shows. He knew of me because my
husband (at the time) copied music for Hoyt. He knew I had done a lot of
things, and asked to hear me sing. When he did, he felt I was perfect to
be the singing voice for Cindy Bear.†

GH: Why didnít you
record the speaking voice as well?

JW: At that time Hanna-Barbera
had a very tight handful of actors doing their voices. They had it all
locked up. The only reason why I did the singing is because Hoyt insisted
on it.†